Pete Wedderburn

Pete Wedderburn qualified as a vet twenty-five years ago, and now spends half his working life writing newspaper columns. He lives in Ireland with his wife, two daughters and a menagerie of dogs, cats, poultry and other furry and feathered companions. Pete answers readers' queries about their pets' health in his video Q&A – he is also on Twitter as @petethevet and has a Facebook Fan Page.

Did your turkey have a contented life?

There are some traditions leading up to Christmas that have become part of my two daughters' childhood experience of the season. Choosing the Christmas tree is one of them: the tree has to be the right one in so many ways, from its height and the spread of its branches to the type of its needles. It can be a tough decision, made jointly by all four of us, and it's followed by carrying the tree home on the car roof, and setting it up in its place in our home.Another annual tradition is "collecting the turkey". We have been buying our turkey from the same free-range source for nearly twenty years. It's from a farm in the countryside, run by the formidable Mrs Hamilton, who is now in her eighties, and it takes us an hour to get there. It may not be good for our carbon footprint, but the trip is a family day out more than a shopping excursion. Mrs Hamilton greets us at the farmhouse door, asking us into her kitchen for a cup of tea and some of her home-bakes before the business is done. When the chat is over (no hurry there), we are introduced to our turkey in the utility room next door. He's stretched out on the freezer with half a dozen of his cohorts, having been dispatched and plucked the previous day. We pay Mrs Hamilton, add on the traditional donation for the local cancer society, and head homewards. Most folk don't have the opportunity to know a farmer like Mrs Hamilton, but there is a trend towards paying more attention to the source of the meat that fills our fridges. In a recent survey of almost 2,000 adults by YouGov, a high proportion of consumers were inclined to choose the higher welfare route where it's available. The research found that 56% of respondents say that they choose higher welfare eggs, 39% higher welfare labelled chicken and 41% of adults who buy eggs/chicken stated they are now more likely to let animal welfare influence their choice of food compared to five years ago.It isn't difficult to buy meat that's been produced with increased attention to animal welfare. "Freedom Food", set up in 1994 by the RSPCA, is now available from a wider than ever range of outlets. The RSPCA welfare standards implemented by Freedom Food have been developed in consultation with researchers as well as industry representatives, taking into account scientific research as well as practical experience, and covering every aspect of animals' lives including feed and water provision, the environment, health, transport and slaughter.All Freedom Food members (farms, hauliers, abattoirs, processors and packers) are subject to rigorous annual assessments by Freedom Food assessors and random spot checks by RSPCA Livestock Officers to ensure welfare standards are being met. Plus traceability checks are carried out on Freedom Food labelled products from supermarket shelf back to farm. Seasonal products that carry the Freedom Food logo include turkey, bacon, ham, salmon and eggs. A Freedom Food feast could comprise a plate of high welfare smoked salmon served with fresh slices of brown bread and a spritz of lemon and dill followed by a Freedom Food labelled turkey, free-range sausages wrapped in higher welfare bacon and all the trimmings. The meal could then be ended with a traditional Christmas pudding and piping hot custard made with Freedom Food labelled free-range eggs.Despite many people's preconceptions, Freedom Food labelled products are not necessarily much more expensive. In fact, buying a Freedom Food labelled turkey could cost as little as 5% more than a standard bird. Major supermarkets such as Co-op, Morrisons and Sainsbury's Marks and Spencers and Tesco and online stores such as Loch Fyne (www.lochfyne.com) all stock Freedom Food labelled products. Mrs Hamilton's turkey doesn't carry the Freedom Food label, but we know from seeing for ourselves that he lived a contented, unhassled life on her farm. If you don't know a Mrs Hamilton, Freedom Food is a simple way of making sure that the turkey on your plate had a life that may have been short, but at least it was worth living.